Mr modnaR

the right tools for the right jobs can work wonders, people!!! the problem with both these materials is that they are soft, and have relatively low melting points. the high speed dremel with a cutting disc attached will merely melt it's way through the material. try using a hacksaw, either a hand one or a reciprocating kind (make sure the speed is adjustable). also a 'saw blade' disc for a dremel would work, but, don't put it in the dremel, put it in a drill, again making sure that the speed is slow. you should find with practise, you should be able to cut holes in aluminium and plastic faster and cleaner! good luck, and hope this helps someone! ;D

wouldn't you need an oscilloscope to view the waveform of an AC voltage signal anyway? or are there meters out there that are capable of doing that?

it depends. if it's a PC PSU, then not really, they introduce too much noise into the system. also, you have to give the 7812s 14VDC or more, as they gobble up 2V on their own, so, unless the transformer is outputting a regulated 12VDC or 12VAC, you'll have to look elsewhere....

a) is the correct answer.

i can't help you other than to say: that's a great idea! ;D (if you need any design work doing on the case, though, i'm just a PM away!)

personally, i'd wrap each leg 360 degrees around a round bar or pen (remove the pen after ;)), that way all movement is spread along the length of the curve, which should translate to longer life. having any sharp bends focuses the movement to those small areas, which shortens the life of the leg considerably. even small movement is enough to cause metal fatigue. just look at the Comet (an aircraft which had a lot of crashes - not one aircraft, i mean one model of aircraft: obviously the same aircraft couldn't be crashed more than once!! ;D) loads of these fell apart mid-air, due to the slight amount of extra flexion in the fuselage caused by the windows being slightly too large. ok ok the faliure of an LED button isn't quite as catastrophic, but i hope you get the point!! ;D 8)

i'd be careful with that, because LED legs are not meant to be moved about once mounted! you may find that they break off in a fairly short time. just warning you! 8)

i like it! it kinda reminds me of 80's russian nuclear power station control panels! (meant in a good way!) let's hope your box doesn't go into meltdown! ;D **audience groans** (ps, i could have also said something along the lines of: 'i hope you're not fission for compliments?' but i decided that's too far... ::))

that's great info, thanks. looks like i'll be ok with my buttons, hell, if worst comes to worst, i'll just have to stick leds in the buttons!

oh, i didn't know that. guitars aren't my thing really (yet)

thanks, i was just wondering if the buttons would be too soft without the leds. i'm going to be doing some illuminated buttons with the leds mounted behind, on the pcb, but i'm not sure if, with your buttons, the leds are providing a lot of support?

or, just get one of these: http://www.gibsondigital.com/separation.html :o ;D

that's cool, thanks for trying. the buttons look really good, post some pics when it's all done! ta

thank you, much appreciated!

yes, sorry, i was taking it that he was building the optimised PSU which has the 220 resistor in the design.

are they not too soft? what is the Shore A hardness of the silicon you are using? thanks

it was TK!!! ;D ;D ;D

if you mean the Schaeffer panel, use Front Panel Designer, and hit Ctrl+O which brings up the object properties window. then, click on each hole in turn and it will give you measurements from the bottom left corner of the panel.

the middle pin is ground, and the other two are +5VDC, connect the cathode of the led (usually the pin next to the flat on the led itself) to ground, and the Anode to either of the other two pins.

lol

damn! i would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids!

sorry to burst your bubble: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=7626.msg52294#msg52294 ;D ;D ;D

sounds nasty! let's hope she doesn't end up with a replacement later on in life.

where are you based? if UK, Tiranti's are a good source of moulding and casting supplies

what happened to her if you don't mind me asking? please tell me you didn't try to MIDIfy her? ok, that was slightly sick of me given i don't know what's wrong with her, but no sickness was intended. 8)